How to Clean Your Fleshlight in 3 Simple Steps

Yes, your pocket pussy gets dirty with bodily fluids every time you use it — even if you cum in a tissue instead. And using it with a condom doesn’t mean it’s clean!

Sure, cleaning your Fleshlight is hardly the fun part of owning one. But to enjoy it for many years and prevent unwanted infections, you need to get your hands dirty and clean your Fleshlight after every use. Plus, it’s easy when you know how.

The inner part of your Fleshlight sleeve is tight and full of crannies. This is what makes it so pleasurable, but also what makes it the perfect breeding ground for mould and bacteria. To keep the smile on your face after using this toy, here’s how to clean a Fleshlight in just three steps. Let’s get into the nooks and crannies — pun intended.

With great pleasure comes great responsibility. But 47% of people never clean their sex toys (and 10% only do so after a few uses or months) — according to research by US sex toy retailer Adam & Eve.

One quick Reddit search shows us that this stat unfortunately pretty accurate – but we’re not here to throw shade!

Here are two reasons why it’s so important that you clean your Fleshlight after each use:

• To prevent infections. Cleaning your sex toys makes them last longer and helps you prevent diseases. “Bacteria such as salmonella, shigella, E. Coli, and campylobacter can all be spread via the use of sex toys, as can hepatitis A, B, and C, chlamydia, and gonorrhoea,” says Dr Deborah Lee, a doctor from Dr Fox Online Pharmacy.
• To protect the toy from degradation. Fleshlights are made from hyper realistic SuperSkin material, which needs proper cleaning and drying to maintain its form. If not, it can become sticky, brittle, or discoloured, which reduces the toy’s life span — and limits your pleasure.

Not in the dishwasher — unless you want it to retire early.

Also, dishwasher filters get filthy with food dregs, so every time you wash your sex toys in the dishwasher it’s like you’re cleaning them next to dirty dishes.

It’s a way better idea to clean your Fleshlight in your kitchen or bathroom sink or take it with you in the shower if you need to be discreet. Since jerking off leaning up against the shower wall is a popular way for men to masturbate, you can bring the Fleshlight with you and use it before turning the water on (to avoid making it sticky). Then, clean it while you shower.

Of course, you’ll need to find somewhere discreet and well ventilated to dry it too – more on that below.

First-time Fleshlight lover? Check out these useful tips for using a Fleshlight.

Let’s start by identifying the different parts of your Fleshlight.

Most fleshlights have three bits:

1. The sleeve—the part where you enter your penis
2. The case—the plastic handle where the sleeve sits
3. The case and end caps—the screwed top and bottom

After every use, give your Fleshlight some love by following these three steps:

Step 1: Wash

This is easy peasy. Start by unscrewing the bottom cap of the Fleshlight case. Do this over the sink or in the shower to avoid fluids falling on the ground.

Then, begin your Fleshlight’s spa day:

• Take the sleeve out of the case and rinse the case with running water (or clean it with sex toy wipes).
• Grab the sleeve and run warm water inside of it. The toy is very flexible, so turn it inside out to get all the nooks squeaky clean.
• You can use a mild, unscented soap to thoroughly wash your Fleshlight. Or spray a sex toy cleaner like Lovehoney Fresh inside and outside your toy.
• If you’re using a sex toy cleaner, leave it to sit for a few seconds.
• If you’re using Lovehoney Fresh, you’re ready to move to the next step without rinsing. But, if you used soap or different kind of toy cleaner, rinse again using warm water and your fingers to ensure there aren’t any residues inside.

Step 2: Dry

Once you’ve cleaned your toy inside and out, leave it to air dry before putting it away. We recommend that you:

• Lay the sleeve and case on top of a clean fabric or paper towel and pat it dry.
• Leave the inner sleeve to air dry in a well-ventilated area for at least 24 hours. Drying time will depend on the inner texture of your sleeve.

Don’t use heat or a blow dryer, as this can damage the material and cause it to lose texture. If you need to accelerate the drying process, do this instead:

• Leave the Fleshlight sleeve on a cold radiator to dry as the airflow will make the process faster. Make sure that the setting is down to zero/off.
• Use the ‘tea towel’ method. According to JC Ways, a sexual wellness and inclusion journalist, people pat dry the sleeve using a clean tea towel. Then, they push the tea towel gently inside the sleeve using a chopstick. This removes the excess water and makes air drying faster. With this method, you still need to leave it outside the case for it to fully dry.

This step is a bit lengthy but absolutely unskippable. Storing a wet toy can cause it to go mouldy.

Step 3: Renew

Once your sleeve is fully dry, the texture will likely feel different. “It’s normal for the sleeve to feel a little tacky,” says Annabelle Knight, relationships expert. That’s why you need renewal powder. She says, “the specially formulated powder will renew the soft and supple texture of your Fleshlight.”

Add a generous amount of renewal powder to the outer and inner parts of your sleeve. “It removes that sticky, tacky texture. It works like a dry lubricant and basically makes it feel more like real-life skin again,” says Jess Wilde from Lovehoney. If it starts to feel too powdery, shake the excess off.

To add renewal powder inside, you can turn the sleeve inside out to get all the spots. This step will make the Fleshlight feel like when you first took it out of the box.

Leave the powder on without rinsing and use it as it is next time. If you rinse it off before using it again or if you add the powder when the Fleshlight is still wet, you’ll get that sticky feel that’s not really pleasurable.

You can follow these three steps for cleaning all SuperSkin sex toys for men.

After washing, drying, and powdering your Fleshlight, put it back into the case and store it in a cool dry place until next time.

If you don’t have a case for your Fleshlight sleeve, make sure to store it safely without touching other toys. You can try a satin bag, hard plastic case, or similar storage options.

As a proud owner of a Fleshlight, you should pamper it properly. To do so:

• Let it air dry completely. As mentioned above, the inner part of the sleeve is texturized. Without drying it properly, you risk mould growing in the inner part of your sleeve. This can cause bad smells and even infections.

• Don’t use heat to dry your Fleshlight. Blow drying or throwing your sleeve in the dryer can cause the material to deteriorate. If you need to accelerate the drying process, use a clean tea towel to dry the interior or a cold radiator.

• Leave the baby powder on the shelf and use Fleshlight renewing powder instead. Both talcum and baby powder come with perfume and oils that will tear your product over time. If you run out of renewing powder, use cornstarch. It’s not necessarily the best option, but it’s better than talcum powder.

• Don’t trust a smelly Fleshlight. This toy is made of Real Feel Super Skin® which is odourless. If your Fleshlight has a weird smell it’s probably because you didn’t wash or dry it properly and it may be breeding bacteria. Make sure to repeat the process and dry it properly until it’s odourless.

• Use water-based lube when you play. With Fleshlights or any other silicone-based toys, make sure to use water-based lube. It protects the toy from degradation.

• Avoid the dishwasher. Always wash your Fleshlight in the sink or shower and avoid using any hard soaps.